Sonny Corleone
Santino 'Sonny' Corleone is the eldest of the Corleone children. He was portrayed by James Caan. Biography Early Years .]] Sonny was the oldest, most impulsive and violent of Vito's sons and, before Michael's rise to power, the most involved in the Corleone crime family. It was he who was supposed to head the family business after the death of Vito. Vito always blamed himself for this, as the boy saw his father murder Don Fanucci at the age of 11, and so the Don would look like a hypocrite if he lectured Sonny against criminal acts. Sonny is not without a softer side, however; while 11, he met a homeless boy, Tom Hagen, who thereafter lived with the family. He also acted as a protector to his younger siblings, especially Connie due to the traditional fierce Sicilian affection for sisters. He also extended this help to his neighbors: when the Corleones first moved to Long Beach, there was an incident with three furnace inspectors who tried to pull a scam on Don Corleone's house, ans Sonny was told to deal with it. After beating the workmen and throwing them out at gunpoint, Sonny called the home-improvement firm they worked for and threatened the owner to not send any more "inspectors" into the Long Beach area again. While a known murderer, Sonny can't bring himself to harm anything he views as helpless (like women, children and people who don't fight back), which turn out to be life-saving for his wife-beating brother-in-law Carlo. Family Life In 1937, Sonny married Sandra, a young Italian immigrant, and they had four children, Francesca, Kathryn, Frank and Santino Jr. It was said that he was a kind and loving father, and a good (but unfaithful) husband. Taking over as Don The normal course of events in Sonny’s life is upturned when Virgil Sollozzo comes to Don Vito with an offer of entering the drug business, backed by the Tattaglia family. The Don does not want to enter the drug business, Sonny shows interest in the deal. This led Sollozzo to believe that if the Godfather could be taken out of the way, Sonny would agree to work with him. An assassination attempt on the Godfather is arranged. The assassination attempt fails but leaves the Godfather near death, although he eventually recovers. Sonny, now enraged and acting as the Corleone Family's Don, prepares for an all-out war against the Tattaglias unless they agree to turn over Sollozzo. Michael, who had previously distanced himself from the family's criminal enterprise, volunteers to kill Sollozzo and his bodyguard, police Captain McCluskey. Sonny, though impressed with his little brother's courage, is initially against the idea, thinking Michael is too inexperienced in Mafia matters, but Michael eventually talks him into it. Michael kills both Sollozzo and McClusky, and is sent immediately to Sicily to wait out the inevitable crackdown on the Five Families. Bruno Tattaglia, Don Phillip Tattaglia's son, is also killed after being thrown into an oven at a crematory. At this time, Sonny became good friends with soldati Aldo Trapani, who helped him bring down a Cuneo racket run by Artie Manzanero. The Fall of Sonny In retaliation, Tattaglia's partner and the Don of one of the most powerful of the Five Families, Emilio Barzini, enlists the help of Sonny's brother-in-law, Carlo Rizzi, in setting a trap for the impulsive new Don. To draw Sonny out into the open, Rizzi inflicts a particularly vicious beating on Connie, who telephones Sonny, begging for help. In a fit of rage, Sonny leaves the family compound unaccompanied and heads for Connie's apartment to take revenge upon (and perhaps kill) Rizzi. As Sonny approaches a toll plaza, a number of Barzini's men emerge from the toll booths and car ahead of Sonny's withsubmachine guns and viciously gun him down after spraying his car with lead, forcing the wounded Sonny to make an attempt at a hasty retreat, but he is shot in the head before trying to escape. He is dead at the age of thirty-one, four months short of his thirty-second birthday. Sonny's death persuades Vito to call a truce with the other Families. After Vito's death, Michael took revenge by having Carlo Rizzi killed, after promising Connie he would not; she resented him for years afterward, even though Rizzi abused and cheated on her during their marriage. Santino's Legacy Many years after Sonny died, his illegitimate son with Lucy Mancini, Vincent, began to assert himself within the Family, personally eliminating Family enemy Joey Zasa, before being appointed as Michael's sucessor as the Don Corleone. Category: Corleones Category: Underbosses